A boy ran to tell his father that he had found a chunk of lithium in their backyard. He said that it was pure lithium and it was very shiny. His father said, "No son, you found something else." How did the father know without even coming to see?

Answer

Lithium is an alkali metal. It is never found in pure form because it is so reactive. Also, pure lithium isn't shiny if it has been exposed to air for more than a few moments.Hide

it was pretty obvious... the only things you gave us is that the lithium is pure and very shiny. obviously lithium is this mineral or something and so the other part will be the shiny thing... so that means lithium wouldn't be shiny and that is how the father knew. still, i never knew lithium isn't shiny although I'm not a periodic table expert.

The real question is why did the boy think it was lithium? It could have been any of several lightweight metals that may be shiny - aluminum, vanadium, chromium - where and why did he come up with lithium? Has he been hitting his Mom's antidepressants?